By LEAP US, AAML NJ Silver Sponsor
As technology continues to improve how we complete everyday tasks and increase clients' expectations of the law firms they choose to work with, New Jersey matrimonial attorneys need to identify software solutions that can help automate their firms' business functions. In fact, 47% of law firms plan to increase technology adoption and usage to help support automation and efficiency across their practices.
As your firm looks at automation tools to stay competitive and improve its overall success, LEAP has put together a checklist of the six legal software automations every New Jersey family law firm needs.
Document Creation & Management
Document creation and management are among the most common tasks that cost law firms several hours a week. Matrimonial attorneys can spend many hours, if not days, drafting and organizing complicated legal documents for all of their cases. These processes can lead to lawyers working more than 40 hours a week to compensate for the lost billable time or missing out on the opportunity to take on new cases because they do not have the resources. While legal forms are not one size fits all, an effective legal software will offer document automation features that auto-populate documents in seconds. These features should cover common documents like letters, retainer agreements, and court forms that would typically require hours of copying and pasting data. As less time is spent on repetitive, manual document completion, attorneys and their staff members reduce time spent on fixing accidental data errors, increase their focus on billable tasks, and potentially increase the number of clients they can take on.
2) Time-keeping Practices
Regular and accurate time-keeping practices are essential to maintaining a successful and profitable business. However, it is often neglected due to the inconvenience of traditional time tracking tools. When attorneys are on a call, in court, or on the go, they do not have the time to manually start and stop a timer to log the time into a paper-based timesheet. This means that lawyers must go back and estimate how much time they spent on a call, preparing a document, sending an email or letter, and in court. Unfortunately, these estimates are often inaccurate, so your firm loses out on thousands of dollars due to delayed and incorrect invoices. As New Jersey family law firms consider automation tools, they should ensure that automated time tracking is a key feature of the software. When attorneys have a tool that automatically logs their time and the data can be auto-populated in an invoice, it immediately has a positive impact on a firm's bottom line and gives the firm a better growth trajectory.
New Business Development
Building a solid connection with a new client starts before your firm even takes on a new case. Clients expect the firms they partner with to be modern and efficient while providing high-quality legal services, starting with the intake process. Automated client intake shows potential clients that you are committed to modern processes and making the process as seamless as possible from the beginning. For example, clients should be able to upload all their documents, schedule a call, and book an in-person meeting without having to go back and forth with you or your staff to find a convenient time or provide their information and documents multiple times. Additionally, once your firm takes on the case, the software should allow attorneys to instantly create a matter that can be updated with new documents, tasks, and all communication records.
Internal & External Collaboration
Document sharing and collaboration are key to the client-attorney relationship once you take on a new client. As family law cases deal with highly sensitive and confidential information, it is essential that clients can rest assured that their data is being stored, shared, and sent securely. If your firm uses tools like email or third-party tools (i.e., Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.), your firm cannot ensure data security. An automated document collaboration and sharing tool should offer the highest level of security while allowing attorneys, firm staff, and clients to leave comments, reply, and provide e-signatures directly from their phones or desktop computer. In addition, the collaboration tool should be fully integrated with where all case information is stored to reduce time spent uploading files, potential errors, and the risk of security breaches and noncompliance.
Billing & Invoicing
Did you know that nearly half of legal clients are more likely to choose a firm that accepts electronic payments? That means your firm could double your profits simply by having the option for your clients to pay by credit card, wire transfer, or even a common payment app like PayPal. A user-friendly payment system that offers clients a similar experience to common e-commerce interfaces accessed from any device makes it easier for clients to pay their invoices or replenish their retainer. Additionally, more payment options and reminders give you a competitive edge over other New Jersey family law firms that do not offer multiple, modern payment options.
Legal Deadline Management & Calendaring
There’s never a good way to tell a client you’ve missed a deadline. It gives your client a negative impression and significantly decreases the chances they’ll be a repeat customer or will recommend your firm to other people. Additionally, missed legal deadlines can lead to malpractice and jeopardize your ability to practice, and cost you thousands of dollars in malpractice lawsuits. An automated calendar or docket system mitigates these risks by importing critical court and legal deadlines into your calendar to ensure that deadlines are hit. An automated solution to manage legal deadlines reduces the risk of missed critical dates (and the subsequent consequences). It also enables better time management for New Jersey attorneys and their support staff.
Embracing an Integrated Solution
We recognize that investing in software to address all these business functions individually will be costly and burden your staff members by needing to access multiple solutions for a single case. That is why LEAP offers an all-in-one solution for New Jersey family law firms to automate and streamline every business function. The LEAP legal practice productivity solution offers features for practice management, document management and assembly, legal publishing, and legal accounting so your firm can improve productivity and profitability. When firms partner with LEAP and embrace cloud-based automation, they establish a digital backbone that helps them outpace their competition and address the ever-changing needs of their clients and employees.
As the legal industry continues to embrace the power of technology, automation is essential for law firms to establish business practices that support longevity and profitability. Inefficiency is no longer rewarded through more billable time as clients expect the law firms they work with to provide fast, high-quality, and modern services. LEAP Legal software provides New Jersey family law firms with the features they need across key business functions to help them automate previously manual and redundant tasks and improve productivity and profitability by 30%.
Interested in learning more about how LEAP can help your law firm automate your processes? Learn more at leap.us/new-jersey.
